SURREY County Council has promised to act after contractors rode roughshod over the rights of homeowners next a school being built in Mayford.

Neighbours near the development have had their garages rendered useless by the narrowing of an access road to a single track.

Utilities boxes have been erected on the doorsteps of the outraged householders with no warning.

Residents in School Cottages, off Smarts Heath Road, say they have been told the original plans cannot be found to check if they are in the right position.

They also claim Surrey County Council kept them in the dark over the adverse effect the development of a new site for Chertsey’s Freemantles School would have on their homes.

On Tuesday one frustrated resident was threatened with police action after he protested by blocking the road between his home and the construction site.

“It has come down to these drastic measures because it seemed that this is what we needed to do after waiting for so long for a reply from the council,” said Jay Patel.

The Mayford sub-post officer parked his car on the access road behind his home, which is now roughly a third of its former width thanks to the development. He fears thousands of pounds have been knocked off the value of his property by the narrowing of the road and the erection of the utility boxes, which he says residents were not consulted about.

Mr Patel, who later agreed to move his car before police were called, said: “My garage has become redundant. The road is too narrow and the angle is too tight to get my car in. I have spoken to an estate agent and she said all this would definitely affect the value of my property. I imagine it will be thousands. We’re not talking about a small amount.”

Mr Patel’s neighbour, Paul Turner, is moving next year because of the effect the work has had on his home.

He said: “It has caused a lot of people a lot of worry. They’ve taken the road away from us and haven’t given us the opportunity to contest it.

“I’m angry that meetings we’ve attended have all just been to promote a façade – they say ‘we’re doing this and we’re doing that’ but they didn’t tell us about all this and the needs of the residents are being bypassed.”

Further down the road lives Flo Slater who was also deprived of access to her driveway until she convinced the county council to widen the road outside her home to allow her to turn in. There seems no such remedy available to her neighbours.

She said: “We are all feeling pretty rotten. The council is such a big organisation and we all feel like the little people. It is a safety issue as much as anything. The road needs to be widened to allow people to pass.”

Her son Andy Slater said: “I’m bitterly disappointed. All I would say to anyone dealing with Surrey County Council in a development is don’t trust them.

“I don’t trust them anymore. They could have resolved these issues on the drawing board but they’re obviously not interested in people’s views.”

South Woking county councillor Andrew Crisp said he wanted to “find a solution that satisfied everybody”, but cast doubt on the residents’ claims.

He said residents had previously been driving on land that was not intended as road space and the track had now been narrowed to its proper width.

He added: “I know the officer is looking at whether it is possible to move the fence to allow some extra space but I suspect it’s quite difficult to do anything about the utilities boxes.”

However, on Wednesday Surrey County Council stated that it had a legal responsibility to ensure the residents had access to their garages.

A spokesman apologised and said the possibility of moving the fence to allow more space for residents was being looked into.

He added that screening would be erected around the utilities boxes before September, when the new Freemantles School for children with autism opens.